The 2013

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

season was a season of

open wheel An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

. It was the 28th season of the series and the twelfth sanctioned by

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

, acting as the primary support series for the IZOD IndyCar Series. It began March 24, 2013 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. Rookie

Sage Karam Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 53 Toyota GR Supra for Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen. He previously competed full ...

won the championship, the eighth rookie to win the series title. Karam clinched the championship in the final race over rookie teammate

Gabby Chaves Gabriel Chaves (born 7 July 1993) is a Colombian-American racing driver, currently competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. He raced in the IndyCar Series and is the 2014 Indy Lights Champion. Raci ...

. Second-year driver Carlos Muñoz won a series-high four races but was forced to settle for third in the championship.

Peter Dempsey Peter Samuel Dempsey (born 31 March 1986) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish racing driver from Ashbourne, County Meath. Dempsey began his pro career in Formula BMW UK in 2004, finishing 22nd. In 2005 he finished second in the Formula Ford Walter ...

captured the

Freedom 100 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy NXT, Indy Lights. The event was a Card (sports)#Undercard, support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and ...

in a spectacular four-wide finish in what was the closest finish in

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

history. In June, it was announced that the series would be promoted by Andersen Promotions beginning in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. INDYCAR sanctioning will remain. In August it was announced that

Cooper Tire Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

would replace Firestone as the official tire of the series in 2014.Cooper Tires Named Official Tire Of New Indy Lights Series
, ''Performance Racing Industry'', August 22, 2013, Retrieved 2013-10-22

Team and driver chart

* All drivers will compete in Firestone Firehawk–shod

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

chassis. * 2012 Star Mazda Champion

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

earned a $500,000 scholarship for his Championship season.Series champ Hawksworth ready for next challenge
, ''IndyCar.com'', October 30, 2012, Retrieved November 2, 2012 Hawksworth will drive for

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

in its No. 77 machine.

Schedule

IndyCar announced the 2013 Indy Lights schedule on October 18, 2012. It joined all IndyCar Series weekends in North America except Detroit, Texas and Sonoma.

Team and driver chart

Schedule

Race results

Driver standings

Footnotes

References

External links